Railway-switch.



0. MEAD. BA ILWAY SWITCH. APPLIOATION FILED APR. 11. 1910.

' PatentedDec. 6,1919.

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' H. 0. MEAD. RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED M nn, 1916. 977,747,- 1 Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

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HENRY G. MEAD, 0F ARLINGTON, SOUTH DAKOTA.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 11, 1910.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910. Serial No. 554,753.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. MEAD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Arlington, in the county of Kingsbury, State of SouthDakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Switches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to railway switches; and more particularly tomechanisms for throwing the switch adapted to be operated by suitableprojections carried at the front and rear respectively of a traintraveling on the track.

The object of the invention resides in certain novel constructions andarrangement of parts, all of which will be fully described hereinafterand particularly pointed out in the claims.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference denotecorresponding parts in the several views and in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a main track and siding with the improvedswitch associated therewith; Fig. 2, an enlarged side view of the switchoperating mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1, certain portions of saidmechanism and the adjacent track being broken away; and, Fig. 3, anenlarged plan View of a fragment of what is shown in F ig. 1, withcertain portions of the switch mechanism and track broken away and otherportions of the switch mechanism shown in section.

Referring to the drawings, A represents generally the track and B thesiding, while C and D designate the movable switch points controllingentrance upon the siding B from the track A.

Disposed upon the ties E is aplate 10 which has pivotally mountedthereon a bell crank 11 through the instrumentality of a verticallyextending rod 12, which is adapted for rotation with the bell-crank 11.A bar 13 connects one arm of the bell-crank with the switch points C andD, whereby the oscillation of said bell crank will move said switchpoints so as to open and close the switch. The bar 12 carries at itsupper end the usual target 14 for indicating the status of the switchwhile an oflt'set portion 15 is formed intermediately of said rod, thelatter having a journal bearing just beneath the offset portion 15 in aU-shaped plate 16 which spans the plate 10. A vertical arm 17 rises fromthe plate 10 and a spring 18 has one end connected to the upper end ofsaid arm and the other end to the oflset portion 15 of said rod. Fromthe construction just described it will be apparent that when the oflsetportion 15 is disposed in line with the direction of the pull exerted bythe spring 18; said pull of the spring will be without effect to rotatethe rod 12 and by this means the spring 18 is prevented fromautomatically tending to move the switch to open position. However,should the offset portion 15 be moved laterally from the position justreferred to it will be apparent that the spring 18 will effect arotation of the rod 12 and thus move the switch to and hold the same inopen position.

Mounted upon the ties E on one side of the plate 10 is another plate 19which has secured thereto an car 20. Pivotally connected to said ear isan operating lever 21 which is normally balanced in vertical position bysprings 22 and 23 which have their ends secured respectively to oppositesides of said lever above its pivotal connection with the car 20, and tothe plate 19. A link 24 has one end pivotally connected with an arm ofthe bell-crank 11 while its other end is provided with a longitudinalslot 25. A stud 26 projects laterally from the lever 21 through the slot25 and thus operatively connects said lever with the bell crank 11. Whenthe bell crank 11 has been moved so as to close the switch the stud 26is disposed at the inner end of the slot 25 so that when the lever 21 isoperated to open the switch the movements thereof are immediatelytransmitted to the bell-crank 11; the spring 22 serving to return thelever to normal position when the force applied in actuating said leveras before mentioned is removed. Mounted on the ties E, at the other sideof the plate 10 and adjacent the rails of the siding B is a plate 27upon which is mounted a pair of spaced journal brackets 29 and 30.Pivotally mounted between the brackets 29 and 30 is an operating lever31, the lower end of which is extended beyond its pivotal connectionwith said brackets. Pivotally connected with an arm of the bellcrank 11,in common with the link 24 is one end of a link 82; the other end ofsaid link 31 through the slot 33, at a being provided with alongitudinal slot 33. A stud 34 projects laterally from the lever ointbeneath the pivotal connection of sald lever with the brackets 29 and30. A spring 35 has one end connected with the lever 31 and the otherend to the plate 27 and normally tends to hold the lever 31 so disposedthat the stud 34 will be located at the outer end'of the slot 38.

In operation, should a train approaching the switch desire to enter thesiding B it will only be necessary to engage the lever 21 with aprojection on the engine which will cause said lever through theinstrumentality of the various connections heretofore described to opensaid switch with respect to the main track. During this operation of thelever 21, the lever 31 will be rocked on its pivot in a directionopposite to that in which the lever 21 is moved. A suitable projectionon the rear of the moving train serves to engage and actuate the lever31 to return the switch to open position with respect to the main trackafter the train has completely entered the siding. During this operationthe spring 18 serves to automatically assist in moving the switch toopen position and furwill move the switch points to open and close theswitch, a pair of pivoted levers disposed respectively on opposite sidesof said bell-crank, a pair of links having their adjacent endspivotallyconnected to the other arm of said bell-crank; said links being eachprovided with longitudinal slots in their outer ends, a laterallyprojecting pin secured to one of said pivoted levers above its pivot andextending through the slot in the end of one of said links, a laterallyprojecting pin secured to the other pivoted lever below its pivot andextending through the slot in the end of the other link, and springactuated means constantly tending to move and hold said levers so thatthe switch will be disposed in open position.

2. In a railway switch, the combination of the movable switch points, apivotally mounted bell-crank, connections between said switch points andone arm of said bell crank whereby the oscillation of the latter willmove the switch points to open and close the switch, a vertical rodconstitutin the pivot of said bell crank and rotatable t ere with, anintermediate ofi'set portion formed in said'rod, a vertical arm disposedadjacent said rod, a spring having oneend connected to said arm and theother end to said offset portion, a pair of pivoted levers disposedrespectively on opposite sides of said bell crank,.a link connectingeach of said levers

